Association between electronic device use time and self-rated health in medical students: mediating role of sleep quality and moderating effect of psychological stress

Background The physical and mental health of medical students not only directly affects academic performance and professional development but also significantly impacts the quality and safety of future healthcare services. Currently, this population faces multiple stressors, including heavy academic workloads, intense clinical training demands, and career-related anxiety. Given these challenges, medical education should prioritize student wellbeing by developing and implementing a comprehensive mechanism to validate the impacts of self-rated health among this specialized population. Objective This study was aimed to investigate the relationship and underlying mechanisms between electronic device use time and self-rated health among medical students. Methods Convenience sampling was used to survey 699 medical students from universities in Hefei City. The study used self-administered questionnaires to assess electronic device use time, sleep quality, psychological stress, and self-rated health. Results The electronic device use time positively predicted the score of self-rated health scale ( β = 0.149, p < 0.001), indicating that longer electronic device use time was associated with poorer self-rated health among medical students. Sleep quality exerted a mediating role between electronic device use time and self-rated health, with a mediating effect size of 0.181 (95% Bootstrap CI = [0.0677, 0.3269]), accounting for 20.03% of the total effect. The first segment of the mediating pathway through which electronic device use time affects medical students’ self-rated health via sleep quality was moderated by psychological stress ( β = 0.0727, p = 0.0550); specifically, higher levels of psychological stress strengthened the negative predictive effect of electronic device use time on sleep quality. Conclusion This study elucidates the relationship and mechanisms between electronic device use time and self-rated health among medical students, providing insights to enhance health awareness and promote healthy behaviors.